Report: U.S. cattle on feed up 1 percent

April 03, 2007

Released Jan. 26, 2007, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service . For information on "Cattle on Feed" call Mike Miller at (202) 720-3040. Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 12.0 million head on January 1, 2007. The inventory was 1 percent above January 1, 2006 and 6 percent above January 1, 2005. This is the highest January 1 inventory since the series began in 1996. The inventory included 7.57 million steers and steer calves, up slightly from the previous year. This group accounted for 63 percent of the total inventory. Heifers and heifer calves accounted for 4.30 million head, up 4 percent from January 1, 2006. Placements in feedlots during December totaled 1.71 million, 9 percent below 2005 and 7 percent below 2004. Net placements were 1.63 million. During December, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 470,000, 600-699 pounds were 504,000, 700-799 pounds were 420,000, and 800 pounds and greater were 320,000. Marketings of fed cattle during December totaled 1.63 million, 5 percent below 2005 and 9 percent below 2004. This is the lowest fed cattle marketings for the month of December since the series began in 1996. Other disappearance totaled 88,000 during December, 3 percent below 2005 and 4 percent below 2004. South Dakota SIOUX FALLS -- South Dakota's 1,000+ capacity feedlots reported 225,000 cattle on feed for the slaughter market on January 1, according to the South Dakota Office of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. The January 1 number is up 20,000 head from a year ago and up 15,000 from December. This sets a record high cattle on feed number for the 1,000+ capacity feedlots in South Dakota. Placements during December totaled 50,000 head, up 4,000 from a year earlier but down 6,000 from November. Marketings of fed cattle during December totaled 32,000 head, up 4,000 head from last year but down 3,000 from November. Other disappearance during December totaled 3,000 head, unchanged from last year and up 2,000 from last month. Steer and steer calves totaled 115,000 head, up from 105,000 a year ago. Heifer and heifer calves totaled 85,000 head, compared to 73,000 last year. Bulls and cows totaled 25,000 head, compared to 27,000 last year. Meat production Commercial red meat production for South Dakota totaled 81.1 million pounds during December. This was down 16 percent from December 2005 and down 5 percent from last November. For December 2006, pork production was down but sheep and lamb production was up from one year ago, according to the South Dakota office of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Commercial hog slaughter for South Dakota totaled 363,500 head during December compared to 457,100 head the year before. Average live weight was 270 pounds, which was up 5 pounds from December 2005. Commercial sheep and lamb slaughter for South Dakota totaled 1,600 head during December compared to 1,000 head a year earlier. Average live weight was 130 pounds, which was up 1 pound from December 2005. Commercial slaughter data for cattle is not published.